His budget shrinks government mainly by cutting benefits and payments to the poor and lower-income Americans. Over 60 percent of his spending cuts target programs for Americans in the bottom third of the income ladder.

Ryan is correct when he says "it's the people who are politically
connected, it's the people who have access to Washington that get the
breaks."

But his faux populism obscures the main point. A much smaller
government still dominated by money would continue to do the bidding of
billionaires like casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, energy moguls like the
Koch bothers, military contractors, and other high rollers now actively
trying to put Ryan and Romney into the White House.

Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor and Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, has a new film, "Inequality for All," to be released September 27. He blogs at www.robertreich.org.